Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. —2 Corinthians 3:17
I have discerned by trial and error that the more conscious I am of God’s presence, the more I feel like being myself. The less conscious I am of His presence, the more I feel the need to prove myself. But the more I am myself, the greater my liberty. This is because I am affirming God, who made me as I am. When I move outside my anointing, I am trespassing. When I try to mimic somebody else, I am stealing another’s anointing, and it always backfires on me.
The funny thing is, when I try to imitate someone else I never capture their real genius but their eccentricity. It is a fact that what is most easily copied in any man or woman is their odd manner or even their weakness.
God made each of us as we are. He chose our parents before we were born, chose our environment, our childhood peers and shaped our interests—not to mention determining our IQ! When we come to terms with our limitations, we gain not only peace but also productivity in the end.
Accepting our limitations is essential to accepting our anointing. Perhaps God will not use us as long as we have unrealistic aspirations of ourselves. I was not being true to myself or the way God made me by entertaining such lofty notions. I was only wanting to make my peers envious by my accomplishments. It is best to accept our limitations and stop pretending. And God will begin to use us.
Excerpted from The Anointing: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Charisma House, 2003).
